Taking Issue: Expanding Funding for Public Education

taking iSSuE

Read the brief introduction below, as well as the Question and the pros and cons list that follows. Then, answer the question using your own words and position.

expandIng fundIng for publIc educatIon

Funding public education is a serious burden for state and local governments. School boards have sought new tax revenues and creative ways to meet pressing financial needs. One innovative yet controversial approach to funding is the emergence of corporate–school relationships, also known as school commercialism. For example, a local business might pay to renovate the school’s gym in exchange for having its name placed on the basketball court floor. Although both schools and businesses stand to gain, these relationships present thorny issues for school administrators, as well as for the public.

Question

Should school boards establish special financial relationships with corporations and businesses to supplement their budgets? (Think about this question as you read the PRO and CON arguments listed here. What is your response to this issue?)

Question Reprise: What Is Your Stand?

Reflect on the following question by explaining your stand about this issue: Should school boards establish special financial relationships with corporations and businesses to supplement their budgets?

Arguments PRo

1. Corporations provide significant financial incentives to schools and school districts in exchange for exclusive use of their product(s), which could include soft drinks and snack foods. 2. Some corporations provide sponsored educational materials that can easily be incorporated into the curriculum by classroom teachers. 3. Local corporate sponsors contribute to fund-raising campaigns for needed upgrades to build stadiums, install scoreboards, or renovate auditoriums.

4. Providing exclusive naming rights for school facilities in exchange for contributions is a way to recognize the philanthropic efforts of the corporate entity. 5. Partnerships between schools and the business community provide an integrated effort to improve the educational program in local schools in a time of funding shortfalls.

Arguments CoN

1. Payment for exclusive product use favors one business over others. In addition, many parents and educators worry that food product placement especially contributes to unhealthy eating habits in students. 2. Sponsored educational materials present a biased point of view or product placement that is nothing more than a marketing tool. 3. Schools and school districts that have access to generous local sponsors receive favored treatment, while others struggle to fund their school district budgets. Schools in low-income areas may have trouble recruiting benefactors. 4. Businesses engaged in exclusive naming rights are granted a captive audience of young consumers for a relatively small investment. 5. Children are exposed to advertising in all realms of life.

School should provide an environment free of marketing messages and implicit endorsements of particular brands.

Do these figures mean that some states set their education priorities higher than other states do? No, they reflect what states can afford, which has much to do with the personal incomes and property values of their inhabitants. We must consider what the states spend on all other services and functions, such as medical care, transportation, and human services.

Since the beginning of the recession in 2007, the downturn in the national economy has had a negative impact on state budgets and their ability to fund vital services such as K–12 schooling. As a result, at least thirty-five states have provided less funding per student to local school districts in the 2013–2014 school year, and per-pupil funding has been cut by more than 10 percent from prerecession levels in fourteen